The Tangled Web (10 page)

Sasha chortled delightedly as Magnus looked stunned that he
had been the one of the group who had been chosen to be pushed out of the
fictitious bed.

‘I’m going for a smoke, phone me if there’s any news,’
Maria announced to no-one in particular as she sniffed back her tears.

‘I’ll come with you,’ Bob said.  Vicky caught glimpses of
worry in her father’s eyes but he was trying not to show it.  She wasn’t sure
if his concern was primarily for his son or his wife.  Her mother had been
known to find stressful situations like this difficult to handle and was prone
to chain smoking to cope.

‘Keep an eye on Pamela,’ Bob mumbled as they walked past
Vicky. 

She nodded her reply.  She was sure her sister would
continue to keep Sasha entertained as long as Sasha stayed awake.  As soon as
Sasha fell asleep, Vicky guessed she could keep Pamela away from their mother
with a game of, “Guess The Ailment,” a favourite of theirs whenever they were
in a doctors surgery or hospital waiting room.  Whoever could come up with the
most gruesome reason for a patient’s visit was usually the winner.

‘I need a drink,’ Flic huffed. 

‘Go get one then,’ Pamela spat.

‘Oi!  Mind your manners!’ Vicky cautioned.

‘She doesn’t need to be here,’ Pamela snorted.

Vicky noticed that Flic was staying silent and staring into
space.  A lack of response to Pamela’s snarling was not what she expected from
Flic. 

Vicky inhaled sharply and attempted to swallow the lump of
tension she felt gathering in her throat.  This was a room she did not want to
be in, with a group of people who should not be there.  Her eyes darted around,
taking stock of the situation.  Everyone was absorbed in their own emotional
struggle.  She doubted if anyone would notice if she started texting, however
inappropriate it was.

Vicky: “
Are you still up?”
 

Christos:
“Yep, what you doing awake agapi mou?  Is
Sasha keeping you up?”

Vicky: “
No, total nightmare of a night. Scarlett came
round all agitated because she and Peter had a fight about us investigating
him.  She actually told him!  Now he wants to write a story about us.  Then
Magnus came over to say Adam was in a car crash. I’m at the hospital now.”

Christos: “
OMG!
 
How is he?”

Vicky: “
Being operated on at the moment.  Broken arm,
broken leg and they’re putting pins in his leg.”

Christos:
“Doesn’t sound pleasant.  He’ll be alright
though?”

Vicky:
“We think so. That’s the annoying thing about
hospitals, nobody ever says everything’s going to be ok.”

Christos:
“I know. If I was there I’d give you a big hug
:( “

Vicky: “
I know :(”

Christos:
“Are you with someone?”

Vicky:
“Yes. Loads of people here.  Mum’s gone out for a
smoke. Dad’s with her. Pamela’s entertaining Sasha. Dread to think of what
germs Sasha will pick up off the toys in the toy box :S Flic’s here.  So are
Scarlett and Peter.  And Magnus.”

Christos:
“Right, you won’t be lonely then! LOL. Didn’t
Flic have a date with Adam tonight?”

Vicky:
“Yup.  Didn’t go well.  Don’t know why she’s
hanging around actually. It didn’t sound like he wanted to see her again.”

Christos:
“Awkward :/  What’s Scarlett doing there?  She
and Adam hate each other.“

Vicky:
“She’s addicted to drama.”

Christos:
“Peter?”

Vicky:
“Smelled another story and came to investigate.
And pick up Scarlett.  Though I think he’ll dump her now he knows about her
hiring us.”

Christos:
“Can’t believe she told him.”

Vicky:
“Me neither.”

Christos:
“What’s Magnus doing there?”

Vicky:
“I like to think he’s here to comfort me ;)”

Vicky awaited a reply and after a couple of minutes decided
it wasn’t coming.  Christos must have gone back to bed.

‘You two could probably go now.  Vicky will let you know
what happened in the morning,’ Pamela called across the waiting room to
Scarlett and Peter.

‘It’s not a soap opera Pamela, we can’t just find out WHAT
HAPPENED at a later date!  This is real life!’ Scarlett boomed.

‘Look, nobody needs to be here except me and Vicky.  The
rest of you, do one!’ Pamela roared.

Vicky suspected a fight was brewing and Sasha was bound to
get upset.  She reached into her pocket and found some coins.

‘Make yourself useful and go buy a bottle of water.  When
you get back you can give Sasha one of the rusks from my bag.’

‘And something for myself?’ Pamela tried hopefully.

‘Alright,’ Vicky sighed, handing over more coins.  It was a
small price to pay to keep the peace right now. 

Sasha waved as she was carried off and squeaked at her
mother.  Vicky smiled at the little girl and beamed as everyone but Magnus
waved and said goodbye to Sasha.  He was busy inspecting a copy of Men’s Health
which had been lying in front of him.

‘Perhaps we should go after all.  It’s not really our place
to be here,’ Scarlett suggested to Peter, while eyeing Magnus nervously.

‘No, I’d like to stay.  I have some questions to ask,’ he
insisted.

‘It’s not the time or the place,’ Flic cautioned, her eyes
flashing a dark warning at Peter. 

‘I know it’s not the time, which is why I’m waiting.  I’m
happy to stay here until Adam gets the all clear.  This is as good a place as
any though.’ Peter was adamant.

‘We’ll call you when Adam’s out of theatre and let you know
the outcome.  You can get your story then.  I don’t want him upset or involved
in your questioning.  We don’t know what kind of reaction he’ll have to the
accident.  I mean mentally and emotionally,’ Vicky grimaced. 

She understood it wasn’t a bad accident but any kind had to
be difficult to come to terms with.  Especially to someone like Adam, who was
usually so in control.  And he would be devastated to have to stop training in
order to recuperate.

‘I really couldn’t help you with a story, I’m just a
concerned friend here to make sure he’s alright,’ Flic shrugged.

‘Perhaps you could tell Peter what was so shocking in your
text to Adam that made him crash,’ Magnus suggested.  ‘When I got to the scene
he was conscious and told me he’d been an arsehole and been texting while he
was driving.  I asked who he was texting and he said you.’

Flic closed her eyes and pinched her brow.  Vicky felt her
heart sink on Flic’s behalf.  It wasn’t her fault but she knew that Flic was a
glass-is-half-empty kind of person and would be seeing it that way.  She would
blame herself for Adam’s crash.

‘If I hadn’t sent that message…’ Flic trailed off, shaking
her head.

‘He didn’t have to pick it up and read it,’ Vicky reasoned,
reaching over to rub Flic’s arm reassuringly.

Flic looked upwards at the lights.  She snorted and shook
her head again.  Vicky couldn’t tell if Flic was praying or cursing. 

‘Well thank heavens Pamela isn’t here, she’d pounce on that
little bit of information!’ Scarlett mused.

Vicky stared open-mouthed in horror as Flic then reached
into her tiny handbag and removed a small pink jewel encrusted hipflask and
took a swig.

‘What are you doing?  What’s in that?’ Vicky demanded.

Scarlett grabbed it and took a sniff.  ‘Smells like
blackcurrant.’

‘It’s kir royale actually,’ Flic announced then grabbed her
hipflask back from Scarlett.

‘I don’t believe this,’ Vicky rubbed her eyes.  Her brother
was in theatre.  Her parents had disappeared.  Her sister wanted to fight the
world.  Her daughter should have been in bed now.  Her best friend had brought
her domestic dispute into the hospital.  The object of her affection wasn’t
interested in being any comfort.  There was a sleazy journalist wanting a
story.  And her business partner had turned the hospital waiting room into a
cocktail bar.  It was too much to handle at this time of night.

Vicky felt something inside her snap and she decided to
take charge of the situation as much as possible.  She turned her head towards
Peter.

‘You!  Get out!  Adam’s injuries are not severe.  There’s
no story here.  Just go!’ she bawled.

‘Wait!’ Peter commanded everyone’s attention.  ‘I think
you’ve all got this wrong.  It’s not Adam’s crash I want a story on.  That
would barely manage a column in the paper.  No, no no.  It’s your virtual
prostitution.’

Flic took a bigger gulp from her hipflask.  Vicky stared
Peter straight in the eye.  Had he really just announced that to the whole
waiting room?

Magnus set down the magazine he’d been hiding behind and
perked up a little.  ‘What’s this?  Who is virtually a prostitute?’

‘These two,’ Peter pointed at Vicky and Flic.  ‘They’re
honey trappers.’

‘You went ahead with that?  You started a business and
didn’t tell me?’ Magnus checked, clearly stung.

‘It’s...still in the early stages,’ Vicky faltered.

‘I thought that was all talk.  I had no idea you two
planned to go ahead with it.  Why didn’t you get my help?  I could have given
you all sorts of advice,’ Magnus whined.

‘Maybe they wanted to do it themselves.  Maybe they didn’t
want Mr. Ten Percent getting in on the act,’ Scarlett tittered.

Magnus looked round at her as if seeing her for the first
time.  They stared each other out for a moment, Magnus breaking their gaze
first.

Vicky dropped her eyes to the floor, wondering how she
could put Peter off writing his story.  This would be disastrous.  It would
mean the end of her anonymous blogs about the business before the venture had
really started.  Everyone in Inverness would be able to read about what she and
Flic had been up to, trying to chat up Scarlett’s partner for money.  What
would her family think?  She had to put Peter off!

‘It’s not really a proper business yet.  We’ve only just
taken on one client.  Scarlett was our first and only client.  And that’s been
a disaster.  We’re probably going to give up now,’ Vicky covered.

Flic took another swig of kir royale.

‘The minute you took on one client, it became a story for
me,’ Peter smirked.

‘Don’t give up on this Vicky,’ Magnus urged.  ‘This is your
dream!’

‘Oh shut the fuck up!’ Scarlett snarled at him.

Vicky got up and walked over to the window to try and bring
some clarity to her thoughts.  She inwardly squirmed as she thought this over
and tried to drown out the continuing bickering between Magnus and Scarlett. 
She took a deep breath and attempted to empty her mind.  It seemed like there
were too many problems to deal with in one night.  She had to deal with one
thing at a time.  She turned and looked at the waiting room.  Who to reason
with first? 

She made the decision to attempt Peter first, as he was the
one who could do the most damage and cause major embarrassment.  That was until
Flic began waving and shouting, “bonjour!” to a man who had just been brought
in to the waiting room with a large gash on his head.

‘The mademoiselle with the rhinestones on her dress! 
Bonjour, doll!’ he replied.

Vicky decided to forget Peter for the moment.  Her partner
in crime was a loose cannon and quickly getting drunk.  She needed to deal with
her first.  She marched over to where Flic sat, tugged on her arm and was
grateful that Flic moved easily from her chair over to the window where Vicky
had previously been standing.

‘Can I have a drink?’ Vicky asked.

‘Sure.’  Flic handed over the hipflask to Vicky who put the
container to her lips and pretended to drink.

‘What are we going to do about Peter?’ Vicky asked.

‘Is this all you’re worried about?  When Adam’s in
theatre?’ Flic groaned.

‘I can’t do anything about Adam.  The doctors are in
control there.  But I can do something about this situation with Peter.’

‘I’d be more worried about him,’ Flic turned and pointed at
Magnus.  Vicky snapped her head around and saw the two men sitting together,
heads bowed, deep in hushed discussion.

‘What the hell are they talking about?’ Vicky worried.

‘And what about her?  Does she ever just chill out?’ Flic
nodded in Scarlett’s direction.  She was sitting with her back to the wall, her
shoulders stiff, her legs and arms folded tightly, her lips chewed so much they
looked ready to bleed.  Her eyes were like darts aimed at Magnus and Peter.

‘No.  Never,’ Vicky muttered, becoming more agitated that
nothing was being resolved. 

She slumped down onto a chair under the window and watched
as Magnus and Peter continued their conversation.  They were very chummy all of
a sudden.  She couldn’t understand what they would have to talk about so
intensely.  She continued to watch and absentmindedly stroked the jewels on
Flic’s hipflask with her thumb.  She had to get this resolved before Pamela
came back with Sasha.  The last thing she wanted was for Pamela to get wind of
any of this.